Odd Duck By Cecil Castellucci Illustrated by Sara Varon First Second Books ISBN: 9781596435575 $15.99 Grades 2-5 In Stores May 14, 2013 *Best New Book* Find it at: Schuler Books | Your Library I have this friend with whom I have almost nothing in common. Name a belief system – political, religious – we are […]

Bird & Squirrel: On the Run! By James Burks Graphix (Scholastic) ISBN: 9780545312837 $8.99 Grades 2-4 In Stores August, 2012 Find it at: Schuler Books | Your Library When the cover of a book looks like the graphic novel equivalent of Angry Birds (an astute observation I can’t take credit for – that was Cindy […]

Zita the Spacegirl By Ben Hatke First Second (Macmillan) ISBN: 9781596434462 $17.99 Grades 2-5 In Stores Good ol’ other dimensions – where would we be without you? The children’s literature landscape wouldn’t be quite as interesting, that’s for sure. What are Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz if not inter-dimensional fantasies? […]

The Unsinkable Walker Bean By Aaron Renier First Second ISBN: 9781596434530 $13.99 Grades 5-8 In Stores August 17, 2010 *Best New Books* You gotta admire an author who goes for broke. Aaron Renier does just that in his mythical, supernatural, swashbuckling (I could go on) graphic novel adventure The Unsinkable Walker Bean. At turns exciting, […]

About 100 Scope Notes

Children's literature news, reviews and assorted school librarian oddities. Combine one part kid's books, one part school librarianship, a splash of absurdity and you get 100 Scope Notes.

Travis Jonker is an elementary school librarian in Michigan. He writes reviews (and the occasional article or two) for School Library Journal and is a member of the 2014 Caldecott committee. You can email Travis at scopenotes@gmail.com. He's also on...